Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Because i'm a giving kinda guy, and love to see people have a great time I have some advice if any of you wish to take it....
Pending being sued by Ulen, or at least lambasted on every forum and social network, dear reader, read between the lines

you must eat in Ulen restaurants

They have very kindly increased all the prices on virtually all that was available, a chicken soup now costing a very reasonable 4 times what it would be in the town, a hot chocolate a great buy at about 3 times... deciding that nobody eats slices of pizza they have made it only possible to buy whole pizzas
An example of an overwhelmed tourists lunch yesterday, 2 x chicken ?? skewer, 3 plastic trays of chips, 2 x soft drinks ---- wait for it --- 40lv They could barely contain their excitement over such a feast, the four pieces of meat per skewer making for a bit of a fun lunchtime game, to see if they could cut one in half

Now, this obviously spells the death nail for the likes of the Peshterita at the side of the ski road, their food nowhere near in price, failing miserably even to be more expensive than the town, a beer ? a pitiful price, undercutting many town bars.... and most sadly, you may actually leave their establishment feeling full... disgusting...

You decide, seems a no brainer to me

Just got back from Bansko last night and have to agree with Steve, food up there is a real problem now. I can kind of live with Ulen charging 6lv for a beer (I know it's a lot for Bansko, but still...) but the other prices are unbelievable. 6lv now for a coffee with milk! And I wouldn't mind paying their prices for food if it was decent, but it's barely edible. Unfortunately other options are getting worse as well. The bar underneath the Shilly hotel has apparently changed hands and is now run by someone who really hasn't got a clue. They used to do great a great "Duner" (chicken kebab thing in a flat bread) for 4lv - but no more. I didn't realise what had happened and thought they'd just changed the menu, so I ordered a "burger" for 4lv. Fine I thought. But it was one of the worst things I've ever been served, only beaten narrowly by a Ulen hot dog. 2 slices of spam and a small piece of processed cheese stuck on some chewy bread then shoved in a microwave for 2 mins. Laughably bad. They were also offering meatballs and Kebabshe (no idea how to spell that!) but with no grill or any other means of cooking than the microwave and chip fryer god knows how they cook those. I wouldn't want to find out. They used to sell lovely Hot Wine, but when I ordered one this time it is literally hot wine. No spice, fruit, nothing. Just a cup of awful red wine shoved under the milk frother on the coffee machine (I am not joking). Terrible.
Hopefully the hotel restaurant itself hasn't changed, but we didn't go in this trip.
Also - Stevie G's at Chalin Valog (the bbq place under the lift) have put their prices up. It's still reasonable and miles better than Ulen, but far more than it was. 4.50lv for a beer, lamb skewers were 20 odd lv. I think pork were 15. Meatballs at 2.50 weren't too bad.
Peshterita has far more tables outside now than last year, and was really busy. Still great prices there and great food.
Matt

Way of the Bulgarian world mate.... Still worth a visit, the 'Secret Hotel' formally the Izvorite hotel in Challin Valog, and the Tofano hotel at the bottom of Challin Valog across the car park.... Both serve hot food, not haute cuisine, but edible and reasonable value (though anything would be compared to what's on the mountain) The 'cave' still remains a great place to stop, simple local food, served with a smile, great prices and atmosphere..... I always thought the BBQ was a bit steep anyway, good food, but for a price...
A lot of our guests we are taking up in the morning are packing up the rucksack, sandwiches and soft drinks etc refusing to be blackmailed into paying 100 lv plus for a snack for themselves and the kids... sadly starting to sound a bit like the French Alps... how about setting up a BBQ, taking some meat, fresh bread, salad etc.. few bottles of wine and beer ??? get the party going If i'm right i believe that it cannot be stopped if within an official BBQ area